Belize PM urges 'bonkers' McAfee to talk to police

Nov. 14, 2012
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Gregory Faull, a 52-year-old American epxat, was shot to death this week in his home on the island of Ambergris Caye, off the coast of Belize. He was a neighbor of John McAfee, who is wanted for questioning in connection with the killing. / AFP/Getty Images

by Doug Stanglin and Michael Winter, USA TODAY

by Doug Stanglin and Michael Winter, USA TODAY

Calling John McAfee "extremely paranoid" and "bonkers," the prime minister of Belize on Wednesday urged the 67-year-old software anti-virus pioneer to come out of hiding and talk to police about the weekend slaying of his American neighbor, Reuters says.

"I don't want to be unkind, but he seems to be extremely paranoid -- I would go so far as to say bonkers," Prime Minister Dean Barrow said. "He ought to man up and respect our laws and go in and talk to the police."

Gregory Viant Faull, 52, was found dead Sunday with a gunshot wound to the back of his head in his home on Ambergris Caye, off the coast of Belize. His computer and cellphone were missing.

Faull, a builder from Florida, had argued with McAfee about his barking dogs. McAfee had 11 at his beachfront compound, and four were poisoned Friday night.

The tech-gadget site Gizmodo reported that Faull had formally complained to the mayor's office about McAfee last Wednesday, "asserting that McAfee had fired off guns and exhibited 'roguish behavior.' Their final disagreement apparently involved dogs."

McAfee, whom police have called a "person of interest," denies any involvement in Faull's death and says he is hiding because he fears that Belizean authorities are trying to frame him.

"Suspect or no, I believe the government wants me out of the way. Too many people have died in custody in this country so I Intend to do nothing that puts me in their custody," according to an e-mail sent to the Associated Press.

Wired quoted McAfee as saying Tuesday, "You can say I'm paranoid about it, but they will kill me, there is no question. They've been trying to get me for months," "I am not well liked by the prime minister."

Barrow dismissed the claim, saying he had never met McAfee. He added that McAfee, who moved to the Central American country about three years ago, had "the best possible safeguard" because of the media attention.

"It's not as if the police have said he is a suspect and certainly there is no question at this point of charges pending," Barrow said. "The fact that this is smeared across international headlines means the police would have to act extremely cautiously in the full glare of the public spotlight."

He also rejected McAfee's allegation that the government was targeting him because he refused to donate to the ruling party.

McAfee, who was born in Britain and raised in Virginia, kept weapons at his compound and has been arrested previously on gun and drug offenses. Wednesday, Belizean police arrested his British bodyguard, William Mulligan, and his wife, Stefanie, 22, for having unlicensed weapons and ammunition.

In e-mails Wednesday to Wired and the Associated Press, McAfee described Belize as a "pirate haven" governed by brutality and fear.

In an "essay" sent to Wired's Joshua Davis, McAfee describes Belize as "a system that functions more or less smoothly if you play by the rules. I am not fond of these rules however and I openly oppose them. This is the root of my struggle here in Belize."

His wrote that the country, formerly British Honduras, is "run more or less along the lines established centuries ago by the likes of Captain Morgan, Blackbeard and Captain Barrow."

"Brutality creates respect; Fear is the means of governance; Extortion is the method of collecting what is due," McAfee wrote. "It's a system that functions more or less smoothly if you play by the rules."

Earlier Wednesday, Davis wrote that McAfee " has continued to call me with semi-hourly updates," the latest to say that he had dyed his hair, eyebrows, beard, and mustache jet-black.

McAfee said that when police arrived Sunday afternoon to question him, he buried himself in sand and covered his head with a cardboard box. He said he spent 18 hours hiding on his property before fleeing. Since then, Wired writes, he has been "riding in boats, huddling on the floorboards of taxis, sleeping in a bed that he said was infested with lice."

McAfee has had a checkered relationship with police since he arrived in Belize three years ago after selling his software company.

Yet, just last Thursday McAfee appeared at a public ceremony with the mayor of San Pedro and police officials where he donated equipment - including Tasers, handcuffs and batons - to the San Pedro Police Department.

She writes that studies show that "Belizeans have one of the highest levels of trust in their police" and that police corruption is "nowhere close to levels in neighboring countries, such as Honduras."

Nonetheless, the country of 312,000 people "sits at a crossroads of the illegal drug trade and has dealt with spiraling homicide statistics."

According to the U.S. State Department, Belize had a 2011 homicide rate of 39 per 100,000 people, sixth highest in the world.

"I think the biggest concern for Belizeans is not necessarily corruption as it is lack of convictions," a woman in Belize City told the Monitor.